Terrifying Sensation on Waking - Sleep Disorders Message Board

mjoshea · 05-13-2007, 06:43 PM

Sorry if i've written too much here.
Reciently i had an experience that hasn't occured in a long time. As a child I would go through periods of sleep walking. Sometimes it would happen a few times a week or i could last a few months without it happening. This i think is pretty normal and i eventually grew out of it. However on a few occasions within this period i would wake up (middle of the night) to an immediate terrible sensation. I would be wide awake and completely aware of who i was and where i was but with a horrible state of mind that i can only describe as complete and utter dispair.
On these occasions i would go and wake my parents in tears and they would try to calm me down, it would take 10 to 15 mins for me to recover but the best thing to do was to try to get back to sleep. I would always remember what had happened the next day.
On the recent occasion it happened exactly as before but this was over 15 years later. I got out of bed and walked around completly aware of who i was but it felt like the part of the brain that rationalizes everything was switched off! I tried waiting for it to wear off but it didn't and only going back to bed and trying some breathing exercises helped me fall back to sleep. Its a silly thing to say but if i had to last more than a day feeling this way i would probably consider sucide!
Does anybody know what might explain this? I don't believe it to be anything serious , sleep is a mysterious thing. I would appreciate any replies.

vanessasjeep · 05-18-2007, 03:21 AM

I wouldn't be able to offer advice, because I had similar things happen to me. I would wake up not being able to breathe and terrified and...gosh, hard to even explain.

I've been going to a counselor and she seems to think it makes a lot of sense because I am an orphan and my childhood was very chaotic and scary.

I wouldn;t suggest that it happens to you for the same reasons, but it does kind of sound like a panic attack, like I always had when I was little.

I think your mind is trying to tell you something. Try to listen if you can and get a counselor to help you through it if you need to.

HTH

mjoshea · 05-18-2007, 11:45 AM

Thanks for the reply.
I've always had a fairly bleak outlook on life I think which then led to depression in later life. I have a handle on it now I hope. It is very difficult to explain, almost like the part of your brain that makes sense of everything is switched off but still being very aware of yourself. I've had panic attacks and they are a bad experience but this was a worse feeling for as long as it lasted. Counselor would be a good idea.
Hope you can find peace Vanessa.
Thanks again.

ctrl-alt-del · 05-22-2007, 01:12 PM

There is a condition called "sleep paralysis" that happens before falling asleep or upon waking up, and is when your mind is hyperactive but you can't move your body because it is 'paralyzed', however - what you are describing seems to be other way around... where you CAN move your body, but your mind is shut off. In that case I'm not quite sure what that might be.

I would recommend you do some research on sleep paralysis though and maybe it is exactly what you are experiencing.